free and/or easy video conferencing software?

[freyar]

I'm looking for suggestions on preferably free/cheap and easy to use video conferencing software that I could run from a laptop over the internet. Basically, I'm in charge of an academic seminar series (typically one presenter showing powerpoint-type slides and lecturing) with part of the potential audience about a 2 hour drive away, and I'd like to stream the talk to them somehow. Ideally, the remote audience would have some way to ask questions. I'm not too concerned about whether it is necessarily a public broadcast, but I don't want lots of specialized equipment (no more than a web cam and microphone, say). In a perfect world, I'd also be able to show two video streams: one of the speaker, and one of the slides (since they don't always come through on a cam so well). I might as well also say that we do have access to traditional teleconferencing, but I don't want to drag everyone to the special teleconferencing centers.

So: any ideas? EN World has always seemed like a great place to ask about tech stuff, and I suspect someone has used some kind of set-up like this for a game at some point. Thanks in advance!

 

[Janx]

How many people? Thats really a key factor.

Skype, raidcall, google hangouts, netmeeting if it still works and are all free.

Setup a trial of gotomeeting or webex.
Teamviewer is free.

 

[freyar]

Probably 20-30 in the local audience typically (to give an idea of the size of the set-up) and 5-ish remote audience participating by internet. If it goes well, though, we might try broadcasting some from other locations with different numbers. As far as skype goes, I guess you have to pay for video conference calls but probably not much; I've been a little more concerned about the resolution of the video. Someone else mentioned google hangouts, and I'll look at those other options, thanks!

 

[Tharian]

Google Hangouts is what the Ruby meeting group I participate in (remotely) uses to handle their presentations. They have quite a few (around 100) attending in person with an unknown number watching remotely. There are usually only 4 in the Hangouts, but then the live feed is streamed via YouTube. This then gives them a way to record the presentation for posterity and other can watch at their leisure.

Good luck finding the way that works best for you.

 

[Umbran]

Note that Google Plus now has Hangouts and "Hangouts On Air" - the former is the expected 10-total-person video conference. "On Air" (which I haven't used) allow you to broadcast the Hangout to many more people (who are viewers, not participants).

 

[JosephSmit]

Check out BigMarker. All its features are free to use, whether you host one webinar, a weekly group meeting, or a year-long series on BigMarker. It provides free unlimited uebinars with up to 100 attendees. You can check out there pricing plan here!